In kicking off Columbus Day weekend, I am going with some history. This time in the form of a quilt. I live in a 150 year old house that was built during the Civil War, and when I get settled in, or maybe not until I retire, I would love to make a quilt to emulate some of the ones from this exhibit that originated at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. I love the appliqued scenes, and the colors are brighter than those depicted in many quilting history books that I have seen.
The quilts are not the only thing that the exhibit deals with. Cotton was king in the South, and slavery was the engine that drove it. The war brought cotton production to a grinding halt--post war production was just 4% of 1860 production and cloth was scarce as a result. Wool became more popular and the exhibit has a number of quilts that are pieced with wool as a result, but this is the sort of quilt that I am interested in making. Wish me luck.
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